fuzzylizard Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 I noticed on the contrib section of the download site that there are rpm's available for kernel 2.6 test 5 (or 6, I can't remember exactly). I would love to try the new kernel out, but I am wondering what is the best way of doing this? Is it really as simple as downloading one of the rpm packages, installing it, making the necessary changes to lilo and rebooting? Or do I need to download an rpm and recompile it? (I have never done a kernel recompile and would really like to avoid this step if possible) Also, are there any real advantages to running the 2.6 kernel on a home desktop computer or are most of the improvements mainly targeted at servers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 This is my understanding of it. You won't actually have to recompile the kernel, but it won't be as easy as downloading the kernel and installing it, because you need the latest modutils, ksymoops, and e2fsprogs. It's also my understanding that if your new kernel doesn't work properly, you have to go back to the earlier versions of those 3 programs to get your old kernel to boot. Now, my understanding was involving actually compiling a kernel, so the rpm may make you download those dependencies any if you use urpmi. Actually, I'm tempted to try this myself to give you first-hand experience feedback, since I want to try to get my SATA controller working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Ok, I just tested it. I downloaded the rpm and tried to rpm -ivh blahblah and it told me I needed a newer modutils (I think), so I did: urpmi modutils and then was able to install the new kernel. Unfortuantely, it did not work for me. After selected the new kernel at the lilo screen, I just get a black screen and have to do Ctrl-Alt-Del and reboot, but it also did not hurt anything and I was able to boot back into my old kernel just fine, so it wouldn't hurt for you to try it. . I have not tried to update the other programs I mention in my previous post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 I did the same thing Steve did when it first came out. Though I was able to get into X, a lot of stuff didn't work.... ide, usb, chipset......it crawled, so I uninstalled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 I think I need to add that I don't have X set to start at boot, so when I get a black screen, it's a console screen, so it's framebuffer stuff, right? Anyway, there's one or two flashes of short HD activity, then nothing. Ctrl-Alt-F2, etc still give me nothing. Anyway, it shouldn't be long before they are done with 2.6, right? right? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylizard Posted November 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 Hmm, thanks for the replies. I think I will hold off till the 2.6 kernel is finalized and easier to install. Or until I get a computer where the install does not matter. Right now I need my linux machine for school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted November 4, 2003 Report Share Posted November 4, 2003 You might have trouble burning CD's under the new kernel, I think you need a new version of CD record - which dooesn't need the SCSI support. Not sure if this will break the burning under a old kernel or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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